What do you expect, it's a prime time soap opera with a hospital background setting. It's gonna be cringy and heavy handed. If you want solid writing and acting, there's ER.

If you enjoy the soapy stuff, NBC had a show called Mercy back in 2010 with a pre OITNB Taylor Schilling, Michelle Trachtenberg, Margo Martindale and they added James Van Der Beek halfway through their only 22 episode season. I found it way more easy to digest than Grey's Anatomy. It was pretty decent and for whatever reason just never caught on. I think it faced really tough competition in its timeslot.